Mansfield prepares for Growth: New Business districts and downtown redesign planned

Explosive growth keeps coming to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex–Mansfield expects its population to double between now and 2040.

The city is moving forward with a new vision for Mansfield to prepare, including new districts to target growth in specific industries and a redesigned downtown area.

Four lanes of Highway 287 currently run through downtown Mansfield. During heavy traffic, people working downtown told NBC 5 that it could feel more like a racetrack than a city center.

“It’s definitely crazy,” said Ryan Rodriguez, a Flying Squirrel Coffee Company barista. “A lot of people speed past; we can hear it.”

That heavy traffic isn’t going away.

Since the late 1980s, Mansfield leaders said the city’s population has exploded from around 15,000 residents to more than 83,000 people currently.

And city leaders said by 2040, Mansfield’s population was expected to double again, up to around 160,000 residents.

“And we can either sit back and let it just happen, or we can be a part of that,” said Tamera Bounds, Place 2 city councilmember in Mansfield. “And we can control our area.”

The city's new vision is to capitalize on all of this expected growth.

Mansfield leaders have approved a plan to create new districts for incoming business, including an entertainment district hosting a new pro soccer stadium and an innovation corridor to house office space and company headquarters.

“There’s an awful lot of people who want to move here, and we’re trying to find a place to put them,” said Todd Tonore, Mayor Pro Tem in Mansfield.

Another part of the plan is redesigning downtown.

“We're trying to get rid of some of that godawful traffic and narrow those streets down and give more parking and more walkability,” Bounds said.

The city has approved a plan to narrow the roads, put a roundabout on Main Street, and build more than 100 parking spaces downtown.

The goal is to make the area a destination instead of a pass-through.  

“With the growth and development that’s being attracted to the downtown area, we’re talking about almost half a billion dollars in growth and development that’s coming,” said Michael Evans, the mayor of Mansfield.

City leaders told NBC 5 that the population growth they expect in Mansfield will boost property and sales tax revenues, helping pay for the city’s portion of these projects.

Downtown businesses told NBC 5 that more parking and slower traffic would meet their most extensive needs, and they’re excited to see what the future holds for Mansfield.  

“I think it would be really good; it would bring more people into the businesses, which is really good,” said Rodriguez. Small businesses really need a lot of people; we’re really reliant on that.”

City leaders said the downtown project and the innovation corridor are expected to break ground in 2024 and take at least five years to complete.